Of all the things that bug me about the Dungeon (my favorite faction), the Strider irritates me the most.

The Strider armor was constructed with the purpose of tilting the balance of physical combat in favor of the Faceless when fighting the Angels, but it seems to fail on all accounts.

By using a Strider, the Faceless lose one of their most important abilities in combat: The ability to move between shadows, or "teleport". Without it, they have no means to combat or equalize the ability of the Angels to fly, putting them at a disadvantage. Compounding that, they resort to punching their enemies into submission, which requires them to very obviously run at their opponents and get within close proximity to them.

A Faceless using Strider armor strips themselves of every advantage they have in combat for a little extra durability.

The biggest problem for the Strider armor is it's lack of ability to teleport. It's constructed out of Shadowsteel and possessed by a Faceless, I see no reason why it shouldn't be able to do so.

The issue of reach becomes less of a problem when the first problem is solved, but I find it hard to believe that when constructing these suits that they didn't think to equip it with any sort of knife or blade. Something like the Assassin's Creed Wristblade would be fitting in my opinion, or some sort of fist weapon that resembles it. I prefer the former, as it can be hidden and more closely fits with the mannerisms of the Faceless due to that.

---

As for the model itself, I'd like to see the Strider sport the wings of the Faceless, it's a 2x2 unit anyway, make use of the space. As for the Soulless, because they are controlled by the Faceless Puppeteer remotely, remove the wings that the Strider sports and bulk up the Soulless a little, adding extra arms, which in combat with an Angel would be extremely useful.

Getting rid of the ridiculous walking animation and replacing it with a teleport effect will go a long way to improving the creature as a whole. Additionally, so will elevating the head, as having it jut straight out of the chest like it does is both unsettling and impractical. Shortening it and raising it to a more natural position (though not too much, as you still want it to be unsettling) at a rough 45 degree angle (which would also facilitate better vision on the part of the Faceless) to the body would be more ideal.

While there are other things that really bother me about the Dungeon Faction, this is one of the big ones right now for me.

Vacrovic

06-28-2016, 06:31 PM

Yeah...stuff like this is one of the reasons I'd love to see alternate choices for each current faction. I loved the Dungeon since Heroes 2 (Warlock baby!), but the Strider is a unit from the current roster that I just don't care for. Whenever I try to use Dark Magic to take advantage of its debuff I don't see enough of a difference to truly wow me, and I've never seen anyone hit me with damaging light attacks enough for the buff to do any better. I've seen AI use strong light nukes maybe twice, and most players don't choose light damage if they aim to blow my army up. Maybe others have had better experiences with them, but when I have to choose which units to spend resources on these are some of the last. Medusas and Minotaurs always get precedence, since Medusas crowd-control abilities (one of the few things Dungeon really has going for it, even if it has been over-nerfedl) are amazing while Minotaurs are very solid (guaranteed double attack with upgrade, and attack first on retaliation). Assassins are the heaviest hitter Dungeon gets, while Stalkers are archers (ranged damage is still ranged damage).

This usually leaves Troglodytes and Striders as the less-important units. Trogs are still 'meh' at best, but at least they can 'teleport' and get into enemy archers faces to shut them down. Striders feel too niche to be truly effective. Only reason to keep them in the army I feel is an extra hit on paralyzed enemies. If I'm wrong and have missed something very useful about them then please feel free to point that out!

That said, I don't mind their animations all that much. Lore-wise they are creations of the Faceless to do the fighting for them, and I like how they move like puppets on invisible strings. Their attack animations simply bashing them is not that impressive, and I definitely agree that having something like a wristblade would be fitting. Not sure about giving them wings, but giving them teleport would resolve some of their tactical limitations.